Hadieh Shafie constructs intricate designs with low-relief paper sculpture. Her compositions are reminiscent of traditional Middle Eastern art, while the artist hides hand-written and printed Farsi text within the folds of elaborate paper spirals. Both process-oriented and impossibly refined, Shafie’s skillful works are often monumental in scale, overwhelming the viewer with a visual feast of color.

Shafie holds an MFA in imaging and digital art from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and an MFA in painting from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Shafie has been the recipient of grants from: the Kress Foundation; RTKL; MSAC Individual Artist Grant (2010 and 2008); the Mary Sawyers Baker awards from the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund (2009) and Franz and Virginia Bader Fund (2011) and shortlisted for the Jameel Prize (2011). Most recently, Shafie was the recipient of the 2012 Space Program by The Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, Brooklyn, NY.Shafie’s work has been included in a number of exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including: The Jameel Prize traveling exhibition presented at The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris; Casa Arabe, Madrid; Cantor Arts Centre, Stanford University; and the San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas.

Shafie’s work is also in the following public collections: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; British Museum, London, UK; the Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art, Winter Park, FL, USA; the Farjam Collection, Dubai, UAE; Bank of America, Corporate Collection, North Carolina, USA; Salsali Private Museum, Dubai, UAE; Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Nebraska; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); The Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and more.